Kerosene to propane generator conversion-Cheap and easy

I have yamaha kerosene generator since kerosene is hardly to get, so I experimenting to use gas (propane). And it works.
It don't need any changes on the carburator so if there is no propane gas, I can still use kerosene or gasoline.
And it only cost around $15.

Step 1: What we need

for this convertion we only need 3 main component.
- high pressure gas regulator
- gas hose
- gas valve (like the one in the picture)

tool: only drill

Comments

[londobali]

Hi Hendro,
Hey, i never knew it was that easy and cheap!
Only in this setting you need to take care and remember to turn off the gas supply when the engine is off..
This guy installed a solenoid to turn off the gas flow when engine shuts off:
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-natural-gas-generator-convertir-de-nafta-a-ga/

Do you know how the car-conversion works? it would have some sort of flow control synced with the throttle control of the engine, i suppose?

Great job! keep em coming.. :)

Thanks for sharing!!
"Tarik choke sampai stabil"... lol... salam dari Bali Mas!... :D

[hendrosutono]

my main objective is to make this system as simple as possible so anybody with minimum knowledge and minimum tools can do this conversion. And for those who have greater knowledge can make some improvement from what i have done. Like that guy you've mention above...

yes it's not totally save... but that is the price we have to pay... if we can't get the proper equipment or don't have money to buy parts we needs, we have to pay by doing more afford and hard works. In this case we have to always pay attention when the generator is running... it's not a problem for me cause usually power outages only run for 1-2 hours( I live in Jakarta) and only 2-3 times a year.

yes, the main problem on car conversion is throttle control... the system is more complicated it will need solenoid valve, engine management computer, air flow controller, etc... It's too complicated for me... just leave it to the professionals... hehehe... 

[londobali]

Yes, I totally agree. In indonesia it wont be a problem because the genset would most likely run on the front or back porch of the house, and quite loudly too.. So when it stop working anybody in the house will notice for sure!
Just remember to tell the wife and anybody in the house to swich the LPG off in case the genset dies.. :)
i lived in Balikpapan for four years, we had PLN cutoffs everyday there.
I'm not kidding: everyday for three hours!!


Anyway, I'm familiar with the noise of the genset on the porch..
Also the problem of refueling: They dont allow people to buy gasoline with jerrycans in Balikpapan (meant to stop the illegal street vendors), so i had to buy gas to my motorbike then transfer to the genset..

If i had known your trick back then, it would have been much easier.. I would have done it exactly like you did, no need for solenoid too.. :D

But for those who have a bit more money to spend, a solenoid would still be recommended..

[asafche]

hi, i know this instructable is old but what the hack. i'll comment any how...

it's great.
can it work on methane gas (organic waste gas) to? the major problem that it is uncompressed, i think...

what are your recommendations?

thanks.
asaf.

[hendrosutono]

I know that in Philippine they use methane from dump field to generate electricity.

But I think it's more simple if we use methane to light up fire. the fire is used to boiled up water, then the steam is used to spint a turbin connected to dynamo... or like a steam locomotive...

or make a stirling engine like http://www.instructables.com/id/Walking-Beam-Stirling-engine/ - then we use the up an down movement to move coil from a shaker flashlight

or use peltier concept like http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-thermoelectric-lamp/

both of stirling and peltier can use methane to light up the fire they needed.

although i was wondering(since you pop-up the question) is it possible if we use air pump that usually used on aquarium to pressure up the methane... or using pump that used to fill up air mattress... :-)
but those pump need electricity to run.... :-p

[ev372]

The gas valve in the second pic; is this pre-made or did you make it? If pre-made where can I find one? Thanks and a great job. I want to build this for my generator.

[hendrosutono]

I buy that valve from special store that sell gas stove equipment. I think you can find that store in china town.
Good luck...

[Rainh2o]

Great Instructible!  I did one with a spare carb but this is a great alternative for those who do not have spare carbs and its actually a lot faster and easier to set up or take down when you use it.  How the heck does your generator run on kerosene?  You generator is now way more usefull being a 3 fuel source machine.  Just think in a time of emergency, you can pickthe shortest line to get fuel for yours, probably propane ro kerosene.  I would like to know how that thing runs on kerosene...

[hendrosutono]

Thank you.

It came with kerosene when we buy it. But it still need gasoline for starting. So there is two tank, gasoline and kerosene. when starting up, we got to pull a valve on the carbs, it will let gasoline flowing to the carbs reservoir, so gasoline and kerosene will mix. After  the engine heated up only kerosene will flow to the chamber. I think kerosene need to be heated up first before easily to burn, just like diesel fuel. In diesel engine there is one part who preheat the fuel before we start up.

Maybe you can modified your gasoline engine by adding a smaller tank to fill with gasoline and the big tank(the one you already got) fill with kerosene. Then you need a switching valve. So after your engine is starting and heat up by gasoline you can switch to kerosene.

Another idea I have is by following kerosene to copper pipe that coil the exhaust pipe. That way the heat from exhaust pipe will preheat kerosene before entering carbs. But it still need gasoline to start then after heat up we can switch to kerosene. I think by doing this innovation we will save same fuel, because the burning will be more efficient.

Have a nice experiment.......
Please let me know which way is works.....

[kill-a-watt]

From a US-centric view, kerosene powered spark ignition engines are almost unheard of. There used to be some farm equipment  that also started up on gas and swiched over to kerosene after they warmed up.

These machines were invented because gasoline was taxed at a higher rate for road revenue purposes.

About a decade ago, here in the US, something was manipulated such that even without the road tax, kerosene was as expensive as diesel. Truck drivers promptly stopped running their rigs on 50/50 mix of diesel and undyed kerosene (or so I hear).

You can get a spark ignited internal combustion engine to run on kerosene by designing it with a low compression ratio and making sure you can somehow warm it up before you switch over to kerosene.

[kill-a-watt]

historical USA/New York prices FTW
http://www.nyserda.org/Energy_Information/AnnualPrices31ab.pdf

kerosene is now more expensive than #2 untaxed heating oil. Still, for some reason people buy those kerosene space heaters. I suppose they are still good for power outages.

[Rainh2o]

Thats what I use my 2 space heaters for.  I have one that will use diesel, kerosene or heating oil, i use that one to heat the garage when I am out messing about, it will heat my 700 sq foot garage in about 20 mins.  Yeah and Kerosene has gone way up in price..if you buy it at Home Depot or Lowes your pay 10 bucks a gal..stupid people do as stupid people is i suppose...I can get it at the local gas station for about 10 cents more a gal then gasolene

[Rainh2o]

I may have to try that at some point.  I dont want to experiment on my working generator with Kerosene but I can find an old lawn mower for free so i may try it out there first.  Yeah preheating it may make it burn better.

[kill-a-watt]

like I said above, there's little economic incentive.

gas is 115000 BTU/gallon

K1 is 135,000 Btu per gallon but probably costs more in your area in the amount of  BTUs per dollar.

I've never fooled with it but I suggest you start by taking the lawn mower engine and reducing the compression somehow. Once I read that one way to go about that would be to use two head gaskets. This should be a fairly easy conversion if the old lawn mower engine is not overhead valve and is air cooled (most are)

[hendrosutono]

It's true by using 2 or more head gaskets we can lowering the compression.
It's also true that today kerosene is more expensive even in my country(indonesia).

As you now lately indonesia hit by several earthquake. My main objective is to make a generator that can use any fuel we can get in case of emergency.

If I'm not mistaken more calories contains in fuel, less compression we need. Therefore if we want to use kerosene for gasoline engine, we must adding the compression.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fuels-higher-calorific-values-d_169.html

My personal challenge is how we can improve the generator to use many different type of fuel without any major changes and switching between fuel at any time instantly.

Now I'm thinking about how making my generator runs using cooking oil...
any suggestion?

[chaydgb]

Great instructable, I didn't even know you could get generators that ran on kerosene. Regarding cooking oil power, you would have to use an old diesel genrator to run on that, as gasoline/kerosene engines don't have enough compression to ignite vegetable oil. But it can be done; I have a Lister-Petter AC1 engine running a 2Kw genny and it works well! (although I haven't had a chance to use it as we don't have many power outages around here). Also there are lots of examples of people running diesel engines off SVO (vegetable oil) all over the net. Have fun

[Rainh2o]

not sure about cooking oil but I think you would have to pre-heat it pretty hot to use it.  Might be able to look up cooking oil for fuel, I know they do it in diesel engines pretty easy and I know there is some sort of preheating it.  I am planning on experimenting with a steam generator next summer.  Where I live I can burn wood for weeks before I have to worry about it and if I can generate enough steam to turn a generator, if I ever needed fuel just walk outside on my back acres and cut a couple of dead trees.

You write pretty good English to be from Indonesia.

[hendrosutono]

Oh yeah... I also thinking about wood gasification. It produce power more efficiently from wood and it can applied on your gasoline generator.

I got this link from friend of mine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F258s13UxfY&feature=related

[hendrosutono]

again, thank you very much... It is also give me much pleasure talking with you...

you are so lucky to have a back yard full of trees... I live in urban area so I can only depend on fossil fuel... :-(

Beside experimenting with cooking oil, I'm starting to experimenting with Peltier thermoelectric. If it works we can produce electricity direct from the heat. Heat from the sun or from the stove or chimney...

Maybe this website can gift you more clear picture...

http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/POWER/thermoelectric/thermoelectric.htm

The modern module is more simple, but the retro concept also likely to applied.

Maybe it's not much produce power but it is from wasted heat... so we have nothing to lose... :-)